Tough at the top, tougher at the bottom!

Whenever I complain about life, my dad always tells me how it's tough at the top, to which I reply that it's tougher at the bottom. Whoever said that being a baby/ child must be nice has a short-term memory. While it may be tough at the top, it definitely is tougher at the bottom.

My poor little baby - no sooner does she get over one lot of teeth coming through, than the next lot are on their way. She is having such a tough time with them - she's not eating properly, or sleeping properly - and feels miserable a lot of the time. I guess the worst part is that she can't tell me exactly what's wrong or where it hurts. Not being able to communicate must be one of the toughest things in life to have to suffer through - that isolation and frustration! No wonder kids go through the terrible two's!

On the plus side, Mommy's getting lots of cuddles!

Still, there are lots of good moments inbetween the bouts of crying etc. And almost every day now she seems to do something for the first time. On Sunday she nearly took her first step, but got her foot all twisted up on a toy, so fell down instead. On Tuesday she waved bye-bye properly (ie intentionally and at the correct moment in time) for the first time that I've ever seen. At some point in the last week (can't remember exactly when now) she started bopping to some music - wriggling her bum and nodding her head - very cute! She's also recently started to put things away (not just take them out!!) - into other containers, or repacking the cupboard (of course, all in the wrong place, but that's not the point now is it?!). She can now also open and close the safety gates (although only when they're not locked - she hasn't figured out how to open the handle yet, thank goodness!) without getting herself squashed in them or under them. And she's started eating Bovril toast (Marmite toast at the childminder's, Bovril toast at home - who knows, she may be the first child ever to like them both!)

Her talking is getting more and more intentional - she now knows how to ask questions and when she sees something she doesn't know the name of, will ask 'dat?', with the correct tone of voice too. Up till recently, it's just been mimicking really, but I think she's getting the concept that words have meanings and aren't just sounds. Her use of 'ta' is getting demanding and loud now, very confident! She's also learnt all about 'no'.

Yesterday when I was at my small group, she knew she was not allowed to take any of the biscuits off the table. When I say no, I usually wag my finger and shake my head at the same time, so that she has 2 visual clues as well. That meant that I could just shake my head and wag my finger at her, without having to speak, and she understood what I meant. Then, for the first time, she tried to wag her finger back at me - but as she doesn't have the co-orination yet it wound up being a wag of the whole arm. It was the cutest thing, and all the ladies in the group fell about laughing at her. A little later, when I wasn't really looking, she touched one of the biscuits with her finger, put her finger in her mouth, and then looked at me to see whether I'd noticed. Again, she looked so cute that we couldn't help but laugh at her. It's moments like these that I wish my parents could share in...

On Baby #2 front, I've definitely started feeling kicks. I've been feeling them on and off for a few weeks now, but it's always hard to know what is the baby and what is just me. It's been odd feeling them, as it's the first real sign that there is a baby and that all this other stuff isn't just the result of something in the water (as it were) making me ill. I have my second scan next week... looking forward to it!